~ The write thing to do…

To be honest or not to be honest, that is the question

On Facebook I’ve been doing these slices of life it’s a writing exercise where you write daily for a month. Now I started doing it several years ago when a writer friend asked me if I would like to participate. A friend of mine saw the slices and started writing them herself. Recently she said we should do it again, I wasn’t really in the mood but I did it anyway and am almost done with my 30 days. She found her original “instructions” but I Googled it and found this.

In my first slice I dropped my pants and was very honest about a personal issue. I think no matter what kind of writer you want to be you need to be honest to your readers, but to what point?

I wouldn’t want to hurt my friends or family, or anybody for that matter, by being too honest about them or myself. So there is a line that can be crossed and it’s a very fine line. To complicate it even further the line moves, a lot.

So where do you draw the line? Maybe the trick is to forget the line exists at all. Just write from the heart all the time and hope most of the readers get it and no one gets hurt.

Let’s face it though, honesty can hurt sometimes even if it’s not intended. Words CAN harm you like sticks and stones and grenades and no matter what you write there will probably be some unintended casualties.

Do you not write at all? A few days ago I wrote a slice about Valentine’s day that produced feedback I wasn’t ready for. I came very close to just forgoing the rest of my slices but I decided I was so close that I was going to persevere and finish anyway. Too many small obstacles have been stopping me lately.

I have had much self-examination with the slices and I decided how honest to be. Sometimes it was good and sometimes it wasn’t. So in the end I guess the line is where ever I decide it is and if I cross it, so be it, and let the keyboard fall where it may.